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Young Women’s Health

Strategic Objective C.1. for Women and Health, outlined in the Beijing Platform for Action, demonstrates a degree of age-sensitivity in recognizing the need to:

“Increase women’s access throughout the lifecycle to appropriate, affordable and quality health care, information and related services.”

Although significant attention has been paid to the health needs of “women” and the “girl child,” as defined by the Beijing Platform for Action, there has been little focus on the population that resides physically, mentally and socially between these categories. This group is roughly between the ages of 15-25 years old and will be here after referred to as young women. Young women tend to be invisible within the women’s health movement because they exist as a transition population between the girls who are spoken for and the women who speak for themselves. In response, we are advocating for the inclusion of young women in decision making, and the integration of their perspective into the voice of the women’s movement. As young women’s health emerges as an important issue, the opportunity presents itself for the women’s community to create a new model of leadership, one that looks at the intersection of gender, age, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation, and is proactive about the integration of young women, thereby ensuring the continuity of a strong and diverse voice for women and girls in future generations.

At the foundation of this paper are the principles that:

• Young women’s health is a human rights issue and is interconnected with their civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights;
• Young women’s health and well-being rely on a commitment by the UN Division for the Advancement of Women, national governments and NGOs to promote young women in meaningful leadership and decision making roles with a real share of power.

Next: Young Women’s Access to Health Care

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